1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the clean-up of organic contaminants, particularly waste or spilled organic contaminants on solid surfaces or on water, and most particularly the clean-up of hydrocarbon liquids such as oil and gasoline and diesel from spills.
2) Background of the Art
Hydrocarbon fuel, oil, and chemical spills occur frequently on a multitude of surfaces. On land, clay sorbents, cellulose or sphagnum products, surfactants, or other bioremedial methods to name a few are used in these situations with the intent of cleaning up the spill in a quick fashion or bioremediating a contaminated soil surface over time. On the water, spills tend to present unique problems and requires the responders to assess each spill quickly and choose among a variety of spill response products such as absorbents, adsorbents, gelling agents, sinking agents, surface washing agents, dispersants, biodegradation agents, biodegradation enhancers, demulsifiers, herding agents and approaches such as in situ burning. Factors such as cold water or broken ice conditions can change the physical state of crude oils making broad application of chemical dispersants more difficult and ineffective.
Various techniques and materials have been used as absorbents in helping to minimize contamination resulting from hydrocarbon fuel, oil, and chemical spills. Absorbents generally function by attracting materials to their pore spaces. Adsorbents such as polypropylene fibers function by hydrophobic nature in water and oleophilic attraction of the oil to wick into the surface area of the fiber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,407 describes a process of cleaning spills of toxic or hazardous materials such as oil, antifreeze, gasoline, and the like from bodies of water, garage floors, roadways and the like, by spraying shredded fiberglass blowing wool composition particles onto the spill, absorbing the spill with the fiberglass blowing wool composition particles, and removing the fiberglass blowing wool composition particles and the spill absorbed by the fiberglass blowing wool composition particles. An absorbent composition for absorbing spills of toxic or hazardous materials comprises shredded fiberglass blowing wool particles, and cork and/or styrofoam particles dispersed with the fiberglass blowing wool particles. An absorbent sock for absorbing and for containing a spill of toxic or hazardous materials comprises an oil permeable tube, and shredded fiberglass blowing wool composition particles enclosed in the tube. Apparatus for controlling an oil slick on the surface of water comprises a craft for approaching the slick, a supply of a fiberglass blowing wool composition particles stored in the craft, and a dispensing unit on the craft for dispensing the particles onto the slick.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,113 describes granular media which cleanse oil from oil-in-water emulsions. These media comprise a glass or filter sand substrate. The substrate is treated with at least one trialkoxysilane wherein the alkoxy moiety comprises from 1 to 2 carbons. The granular media are backwashable to refresh their lipophilic properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,078 discloses the use of hydrophobic silica, containing sorbed HF values to remove oil from water by sorption of the oil onto the silica and then separating the oil/silica mixture from the water. Furthermore, the disclosure pertains to recovering the silica from the oil by aqueous treatment in such a manner that the hydrophobicity of the silica is overcome and the silica becomes hydrophilic, thereby releasing the oil
U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,079 discloses a method of oil removal wherein glass fibers are formed from melted glass, sprayed with a binder, and collected on a conveyor in a continuous process. A woven scrim of continuous glass filaments is fed from a roll to the conveyor along with the glass fibers. The scrim and fibers pass under a sizing roll which compresses the fibers into a mat, and then through a curing oven to cure the binder. The scrim-reinforced glass fiber mat is cut into lengths, such as one hundred feet or two hundred feet, and rolled into rolls for eventual use as an oil absorbent primarily to clean up oil spills from oil tankers.